People often experience recurrent, distressing thoughts, or ruminations, following traumatic events. Three types of rumination have been linked with adjustment for traumatic events: instrumental rumination (i.e., confronting the practical implications of the event), emotion-focused rumination (i.e., dwelling upon the negative feelings associated with the event), and searching for meaning (i.e., seeking to identify a cause for the event). The proposed study investigates the implications of ruminative thought for psychological and physical adjustment to traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). A longitudinal study of 90 people who have recently suffered a SCI will be conducted. Participants will be interviewed 4 weeks, 4 months, and 1 year post-injury. It is expected that instrumental rumination at each time will predict subsequent enhanced adjustment (e.g., less depression, stress, and social withdrawal; increased physical independence, mobility, and positive affect). It is expected that emotion-focused rumination at each time will predict subsequent poor adjustment. It is expected that engaging in an extended, unresolved search for a cause of the injury will predict poor adjustment.